The jackpot for Wednesday's Powerball drawing now stands at $500 million -- the richest Powerball pot ever -- and it's likely to get even sweeter.

"Back in January, we moved Powerball from being a $1 game to $2," says Mary Neubauer, a spokeswoman for the Iowa lottery. "We thought at the time that this would mean bigger and faster-growing jackpots."

It's proved true. The total, she says, "has been taking huge jumps -- another $100 million since Saturday." (The most recent drawing, on Saturday night, produced no winning numbers.)

Until now, the biggest Powerball pot on record -- $365 million -- was won in 2006 by eight Lincoln, Neb., co-workers.

In Photos: Biggest Lotto Jackpot Winners

Lottery officials in Iowa, where Powerball is headquartered, have started getting phone calls from all around the world. "When it gets this big," says Neubauer, "we start getting inquiries from Canada and Europe from people wanting to know if they can buy a ticket. They ask if they can FedEx us the money."

The answer she has to give them, she says, is: "Sorry, no. You have to buy a ticket in a member state from a licensed retail location."

About 80 percent of players don't choose their own Powerball number, opting instead for a computer-generated one.

Asked if there's anything players can do to improve their odds of winning, Neubauer says no -- apart from buying a ticket, of course.

Lottery officials put the odds of winning Wednesday's Powerball pot at one in 175 million, meaning you are 25 times more likely to win an Academy Award.

Skip Garibaldi, a professor of mathematics at Emory University in Atlanta, provides additional perspective: You are three times more likely to die from a falling coconut, he says; seven times more likely to die from fireworks, "and way more likely to die from flesh-eating bacteria" (115 fatalities a year) than you are to win the Powerball lottery.

Segueing, then, from death to life, Garibaldi notes that even the best physicians, equipped with the most up-to-date equipment, can't predict the timing of a child's birth with much accuracy.

"But let's suppose, however, that your doctor managed to predict the day, the hour, the minute and the second your baby would be born," Garibaldi says. The doctor's uncanny prediction would be "at least 100 times" more likely than your winning Wednesday.

Even though he knows the odds all too well, Garibaldi says he'll usually play the lottery. "When it gets this big, I'll buy a couple of tickets. It's kind of exciting. You get this feeling of anticipation. You get to think about the fantasy."

So will he be purchasing two tickets for Wednesday's Powerball? "I can't," he tells ABC News. "I'm in California" -- one of eight states that doesn't offer Powerball.

When I have the winning numbers tonight, I'm taking lump sum payments.

I'm just not risking the future of my children's fiances, and lets face it....

When I'm shooting a unicorn out of a helicopter with my shotgun, I could fall out and screw my family out of the money by early death.

Yea, I have thought about that a lot. But isn't it only a risk if you act in a way that makes it a risk. Or are you going with the idea that so much money would make you make bad decisions...even with the best intentions.

On one hand I like the idea of getting it over time to create a ceiling on the craziness but on the other hand with that lump sum there are so many ways to just let that money sit and make more money from it.

I'm basically 40. 3 of my friends from school have died.
Someone could live like a Quaker and get into an accident or slip in the shower or wake up with cancer. I had a friend from college whose family won 2 separate lotteries. He's dead too.

I'm confident that brideowanian and I wouldn't be irresponsible with that payout. I would set up a trust to make sure things were taken care either way. I'm charitable by nature and the only way to handle that is to set up endowments, trusts and boards to handle it so you always have an easy answer to direct requests to...and man would them come in.

Yea, I have thought about that a lot. But isn't it only a risk if you act in a way that makes it a risk. Or are you going with the idea that so much money would make you make bad decisions...even with the best intentions.

On one hand I like the idea of getting it over time to create a ceiling on the craziness but on the other hand with that lump sum there are so many ways to just let that money sit and make more money from it.

Most people take the cash. Looks like some sorry bastard in GA didn't claim 77M as well.

I'm basically 40. 3 of my friends from school have died.
Someone could live like a Quaker and get into an accident or slip in the shower or wake up with cancer. I had a friend from college whose family won 2 separate lotteries. He's dead too.

I'm confident that brideowanian and I wouldn't be irresponsible with that payout. I would set up a trust to make sure things were taken care either way. I'm charitable by nature and the only way to handle that is to set up endowments, trusts and boards to handle it so you always have an easy answer to direct requests to...and man would them come in.

I feel like one thing I would do is direct all money requests for a certain person to filter and handle. It would be overwhelming the amount of people that would hit you up...for themselves and for causes...obviously you want to help people but it would be never ending.

That part would be tough. Almost make a clearing house for my charity other than obvious instances where I initiate the giving.

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Some on here need some perspective. Remember Haley/Crennel/Gunther/Herm etc. it can get a lot worse.

The NFL hired 2 of Reid's OC’s to be head coaches in the last 3 years. One is already in the Super Bowl this year with Foles as his QB. If any NFL team needs a coach and Reid is available, they will hire him over any person on the face of the earth, except for Bellicheck.

I think one reason heteros have become more tolerant of gays is their own acceptance of butt-sex as an alternative form. I never heard of the concept until about 5-10 years ago and it's mentioned continually in pop culture. Honestly I have no clue what the appeal is but apparently it exists. Usually as a solution to sexual boredom.

Just a little interesting note to put something in perspective. In honor of the cool history channel show a few months back...If you wanted to gain as much money as Rockefeller had(in today's money), you would have to win tonight's powerball roughly 1,147 times.